FAQ

(More like a mix of FAQ’s and questions we wished people asked).

Who are you guys?

We’re a bunch of independent content producers that banded together to make something we all personally wanted to see. We’re not an offshoot of a bigger company and while some of us have had experience working on other projects, many of the roles that we’re doing for this project are things we’re doing for the first time (at the time of writing, you can count the number for core team members on one hand and maybe two if you factored in everyone who’s helping out).

Why are you starting with a web series and not the game?

Originally the plan was just to make a JRPG but after watching some staff go into fan-girl mode over a popular 3D CG anime-inspired web series, we decided we could pull off something similar by extending our cutscene system to create short 5-10 minute webisodes.

This was a conscious decision made mostly because it would take us much longer to crank out a full game and since we were already building the tech to get the art style right, we could get some content out as a web series first.

If anything, you can blame our Executive Director & Producer for it. (yes we got permission to say that)

What engine are you guys using?

For the web series and the JRPG game we’re using Unreal Engine 4. The Visual Novel game is built on a framework developed around Unity 5 and an animation system we licensed from Japan.

Where will I be able to watch the web series?

Currently the plan is to offer the series here on the AK site as well as on YouTube. We’d love to get it on some of the other content streaming sites as well but we have to work out the proper agreements first.

Why is the web series being rendered with a game engine and not with something like Maya, 3ds Max or Blender?

Why? Because we can!!

Although realistically, we really just extended what we would normally do as a cut scene in game and just rendered it out. However since we don’t have to worry about doing anything in real time or trying to render at 30 or 60fps, we can ramp up everything.

(It also justifies us buying a retardedly powerful PC to play video games on when it’s not rendering)

Are there any plans to bring the game(s) to the Xbox One or PC?

Currently we have no plans for the Xbox One but we will most likely bring the games to PC later. Our focus is to get the console versions right first after the web series gets going.

Why not the Xbox One?

We don’t have anything against the platform. It’s just not a major platform of choice for our target audience and we just don’t have the resources to properly support a multi platform release right now.

Any plans for the Nintendo platforms?

Yes. We just can’t go into the details at the moment.

If there is going to be a PC version fo the game, will you also be releasing a Linux and/or Mac version?

Unfortunately due to the limited resources we have, we won’t be able to properly support it. So the short answer is.. No.

Who is publishing the game/web series?

Currently we are self publishing the game and the web series.

I heard you guys mentioned something about VR. Will there be a VR version of the game?

While we do plan on releasing something for VR, the plan is for a stand alone experience for either PlayStation VR or the Oculus Rift. We’re currently still in testing right now.

Is the web series just to promote the game?

Nope, the web series is a standalone web series separate from the game. While it may feature many of the same characters, it exists just so we can expand the world we’ve created and also let us refine the rendering technology we’ve developed.

Are you guys piggy backing off the success of XYZ?

We’re not looking to rip off anyone else or ride off the success of another film, tv show, game, anime or web series, at least not intentionally. Technically speaking there has been nothing truly original for a long time and as content producers, we’ve really just been ripping each other off and riding off each others success. The important thing to us is that there’s fresh content out there to help keep the industry from getting stale.

If you’re thinking we’re part of a big company that saw the success of some show/film/game/web series/thing and just wanted to jump onto the bandwagon with some generic stuff, you got us wrong. Think of us as a bunch of fans looking to create their own thing which just happens to be inspired partly by the stuff we like.

What’s with the tropes?

It’s not done intentionally. What we’re hoping to do is bring you more of what we all love but different.

We asked our producer about this and this is what he had to say

“It’s practically impossible to find something that doesn’t fit into some sort of trope these days. You can take your favourite tv show/film/video game/anime and see how many tropes it fits into. You can be assured that it’s impossible that it was original in every aspect possible. In the end, it’s not about who or what the characters are but rather their journey and how they handle the events before them.”

How many episodes are you planning on doing?

With the Kickstarter succeeding at the minimum amount needed, we are promising two ten-minute episodes with 10-12 episodes total to complete season one. Episodes three onwards will be completed whenever we can afford the time and money to do them.

Will you be doing another Kickstarter campaign for the remaining episodes?

We’ll look into that possibility once the first two episiodes are released. We will most likely do another campaign to cover the production of the remaining episodes using the first two episodes as the pilots.

What about the game? Will you be Kickstarting that as well?

The plan is to get a basic demo done and then raise funds after the series is released. There’s no real ETA on when that’s going to happen.